Warrnambool's Customs House Gallery to close

Twenty years ago Des and Helen Bunyon succesfully tendered to set up a commercial art space in Warrnambool's historic customs house - a small building which had become a part of the South West TAFE campus.

The gallery was officially opened on Australia Day in 1990 and since then has gone on to be an important part of Warrnambool's arts scene.

Durnig their time running the gallery, the Bunyons have used the gallery to present the work of local artists as well as those from elsewhere around the region and indeed around the world.

They've also built up several relationships with artists and have continued to build on special events such as the annual exhibition of art from Children's books.

Now, however, the South West TAFE need the building back so the Customs House Gallery will be closing around the end of April.

Des Bunyon isn't entirely sure what the TAFE plan to do with the building, although he understands it may be used for office space as their landlords 'don't see an ongoing future for a commercial gallery space in the building'.

The lease was coming up for renewal at the end of January and the gallery had been contacted early to mid December last year to discuss some issues which could have affected the business, although despite this Des says the request to vacate came as a surprise.

He adds that the TAFE did offer some alternative options for gallery spaces but that none of them were viable from the gallery's point of view.

With the 2010 exhibition program pretty much locked in, they have been able to secure alternative venues for some of their planned exhibitions, but others have been cancelled.

The issue of returning the artworks they still hold is also proving difficult for Des and Helen, who would've liked more time to organise and pack up their stock.

They're not sure what the future will hold for them - at the moment they're concentrating on getting themselves packed and out - but they don't have any plans to leave the area and hope to keep working locally within the arts.

The final exhibiton at the gallery is a timely way to finish in that it features the work of an artist they've only just started working with alongside one of the first artists they worked with when the gallery opened back in 1990.

On Tuesday morning, Joe Piper - CEO of the SW TAFE will join us on breakfast to further explain their decision to take the building back and to talk more about its potential future use.